


Just One Kiss

by sableyes



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alcohol, Consensual, Dave's POV, Drunken Kissing, Friends to Lovers, M/M, two bros chilling in a bean bag macking on each other cause they're not gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 15:12:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18741589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sableyes/pseuds/sableyes
Summary: John gets drunk and tells Dave they absolutely have to kiss. For friendship. But Dave could not have known what he was signing up for, and more than one ground rule gets broken. But hey. Friendship?





	Just One Kiss

“Shit,” Dave mutters, pushing his way through the crowd to make his way over to John, who seems to be enjoying himself, arms around both Jade and Rose who are trying to help him stand up. Dave leaves him alone for half an hour, and John goes and gets himself drunk; he told him that this party was a bad idea for this exact reason. Goddamn lightweight… “Dave~!” John slurs once he reaches him, “I was just – urp – just talking to our friends about… about _you_!”

 

Why the hell is he shouting? “Alright, John,” he says, looking to Rose and Jade who pass him off to him. This is just the norm. They party, someone (probably Dirk; that idiot) gives Egderp too many drinks, and Dave comes and takes care of him. Because he’s a good friend. Because he won’t let John wander home to his dad in this state. Because he loves the fucking dork; the idiot… the absolute mess. God, he’s heavy.

 

“Do you wanna, like, I don’t know, walk?” Dave asks, trying to get John to move with him. Instead, John flings his arms around Dave’s neck and drops all his bodyweight against his chest. Dave stumbles backwards a little, but braces himself enough to keep him afloat. “Do you hear me, Davie?” John sings, “You’re _my best frieeeend!_ ” Dave rolls his eyes because he can see Rose smirking at them with her arms crossed – Jade’s already gone back to the party. She mouths to him, “Davie”, and Dave flips her off, stoic-faced.

 

“Okay Egbert, we’re leaving,” Dave reminds him, cupping John’s cheeks to make sure John is looking at him, “We’re gonna go back to my place because you’re an idiot who can’t hold a baby fucking Smirnoff to save your life.”

 

“Yeah!” John says, giggling, “Dirk let me try some, uh… _hic_ … fireball!”

 

So he was right. It is Dirk. Goddamn it.

 

“One foot at a time, Egbert, and maybe you’ll sober up a little on the way home,” Dave tells him, pulling John off of him and instead putting his arm around John’s shoulders. “Have a good time!” Dave hears Rose shout after them. He considers flashing her another bird, but she’s wandered off, and he’s turning his back towards her anyway. She knows he hates her right now.

 

Guiding John through the party, they somehow make it out the front door before John’s doing _the thing_ again. “Dave!” John shouts, pouting at him, “I love you. You’re the best.” Dave smiles at him now that there’s no one around to see it. As annoyed as he acts over John’s drunken state, he does love how adorable and affectionate he gets. Especially with him. And it won’t last long – it never does. “I hear you, dude,” he responds, “Now stop shouting. You’re worse than Karkat.”

 

They make their way down the driveway while John sings some incoherent mess of words. But Dave doesn’t care, as long as they’re moving. Usually, by this point, he’s dragging John like a dead body all the way back home while John cries through some nonsensical muttering. How is it possible to be almost every kind of drunk in one night? Egbert sure is something.

 

They make their way down the road and fuck – Dave spoke too soon. John suddenly collapses underneath a streetlight, sobbing.

 

“Oh no, oh fuck,” Dave groans, “We were doing so well.”

 

“Daaaave!” John cries, reaching up to tug on the bottom of Dave’s shirt. Dave doesn’t want his shirt stretched, so he waves John’s hand away, only to have his legs hugged instead. “Dude… _what_?” he asks, frowning down at John. He’s never so vulnerable. It would make Dave sad to see him like this if it wasn’t simultaneously funny. “I don’t wanna go back without telling you what Dirk and Rose said,” John slurs his words, but Dave can tell he’s putting effort into speaking somewhat coherently.

 

“What?” Dave asks, raising an eyebrow.

 

John stops crying for a moment, and Dave patiently waits. Apparently, he waits too long, because he quickly realizes that John is falling asleep. Jesus. He almost fell for that one. “No, Egderp, we’re not doing this again,” Dave says, leaning down to pick John up. He plants John on his feet and looks him straight in the eyes. “Stop crying. Please.” John nods a few times to many, and Dave wipes his best friend’s cheeks. This is gay.

 

He realizes quickly that John is too slow at walking, so he kneels down and John gets on his back. On the way home, John murmurs compliments in Dave’s ear. “You’re my best friend”, “You’re hot”, “I love you”. If only John were more like this when he was awake. A lot more pleasant than constant pranks and Mortal Kombat wars that John can almost never win but whines about nonetheless.

 

By the time they get to Dave’s house, Dave is probably just as tired as the dumb kid on his back. He needs to shuffle John off of him to get into the house, and he doesn’t wanna carry him up the stairs. So, he drags John by his arms and the two eventually reach Dave’s attic room. Without needing instruction or help all of a sudden, John collapses on the bed. Real convenient.

 

“Dave,” John mutters, “I’m not sleeping.”

 

“You’re gonna have to,” Dave replies, walking to the side of the bed that John’s chosen, “Do you want PJs?”

 

John looks up at Dave, his hair fluffed across his pillow. In response, he simply kicks off his jeans, leaving him in boxer briefs. “This is great,” John replies, a smile on his face, “Now come here. We’re gonna talk.”

 

Dave rolls his eyes and takes John by the shoulders, sitting him up. He looks down at him and of course, John’s shirt is a mess. No one spills as much as this kid. Or maybe it was the Keg… “Take your shirt off, dork,” Dave tells him, turning back to his dresser to dig for a shirt that he’s okay with getting puke on.

 

“Ooo~” John slurs before throwing his shirt at the back of Dave. Dave, ignoring this relatively normal drunk John behaviour, throws back a clean shirt at John. As if it matters, John decides to examine the old band shirt – clean but unworn.

 

“Put it on, dude. Work with me here.”

 

“What are you? My – _hic –_ boyfriend?”

 

Dave sighs and takes his sunglasses off, putting them on top of his dresser. The only light in his room right now is the red LED lights he installed a few weeks ago, and without his shades on, the red light looks pretty good on John – even manages to hide his already embarrassingly red cheeks. A classic drunk Egbert trait. And those damn blue eyes looking up at him with his glasses all lopsided – okay, Dave is definitely a little past tipsy, but he needs to stop staring at John when he drinks.

 

Standing in front of John now, he takes the shirt from his ungrateful friend’s hands and pulls it over John's head. “No, and I’m not your wife either, so don’t expect me to love you in drunkenness and health,” he replies.

 

John pulls the rest of the shirt through and tries to stand up out of bed. “I’m really not going to sleep,” he argues. What a pain in the ass.

 

“You’re not serious… You almost fell asleep on the road getting here, John. You can’t even stand properly. Look.”

 

John manages to get up but grabs onto Dave’s shoulder to do it. “I’m not gonna puke,” he says after a moment of standing.

 

“Well shit. I wasn’t worried until just now—”

 

“I’m not gonna!” John yells for no reason, “I feel better already… get me water.”

 

Dave sighs, absolutely fucking exasperated, and makes his way to the kitchen. When he comes back with a glass, John has made himself cozy in front of the TV in Dave’s room, some random quiz show quietly on as he nestles into the bean bag. Guess he really isn’t sleeping.

 

“Here,” Dave says, holding out the water for his idiot friend who takes it and immediately downs half of it. Plopping beside him in the space left in the bean bag, Dave remembers all their teenage shenanigans in this very spot – late-night marathons, full playthroughs of games, rambling about the philosophies of the world. It was easy to forget everything else back then and zero in on their time with each other. It was only recently that they started to indulge in that behaviour again – two-person parties with a few beers and shitty anime. There’s some sort of understanding they have with each other – they’re the only ones who can truly give each other a very certain feeling. It’s a special bond that’s hard to put in words but being with John is familiar and safe.

 

The occasional weekend where they get drunk like this is nice too, though.

 

“Hey,” John says, not slurring for the first time all night, “What do you see me as? Like, actually?”

 

“What?” Dave asks, taken by surprise, “What do you mean?”

 

“Like… how would you label me in your life?”

 

Dave thinks for a long moment and wishes right now that he had gotten his own glass of water too. Damn. Too late now. “You know you’re my best friend,” he answers, even knowing himself that it was a half-assed response.

 

“Yeah, yeah,” John waves a hand in front of Dave’s face, not peeling his eyes away from the incredibly uninteresting game show, “Figured you’d say something like that.”

 

Dave examines John’s side-profile. Even when intoxicated, his emotions are clear in the expression he gives. Disappointment. It doesn’t suit him. So, Dave tries again.

 

“I’d marry you, dude.”

 

John laughs and Dave smiles. They joke that they’re a couple all the time, never past John’s obvious comfort zone – even though that’s also fun to tease him about. But when they’re drunk, the wiggle room is excessive. “I thought you weren’t my wife?” John teases.

 

“Yeah well, shit changes fast,” Dave says, “One second, we’re two bros on a giant bean bag chair and the next, we’re macking on each other. It’s the same shit that happens in every one of those dumbass hetero movies.”

 

“But it would be gay with us, not heterono.. hetero-whatever.”

 

“Yeah, minor details,” Dave says, “If I were a girl, you’d be all over me.”

 

“Well, yeah, you’re pretty,” John says, sinking lower into the bean bag, “and… I’m sobering up a little but this is getting off-track…”

 

“John, I’m teasing.”

 

“But…” John turns and looks at Dave, “ _Are_ you?”

 

The quiet TV is not enough to drown out Dave’s rapid thoughts right now. “What? I’m not straight, so I must be in love with my best friend? Huh? Is that it, Egbert? I thought you were different.”

 

“No, no, geez! Just shut up and listen for a sec,” John says, turning and grabbing Dave’s shoulders who is still grinning about John getting flustered and defensive so easily, “This is a thing! Rose told me about it where uh… when you joke about it too much, it creates this tension and I don’t know! It’s like a… _gay_ tension! So they suggested we kiss to you know, ease and satisfy the tension. The gay tension.”

 

What. The. Fuck.

 

“John… Dude,” Dave smirks and covers his mouth to try and withhold giggles. “Rose is fucking with you.”

 

“No! Dirk agreed! And even Jade said it made sense!”

 

Stifling laughter is usually something Dave is pretty good at – he’s had to be to pull off any of the pranks that he has. But right now, he can’t help himself. He fucking loses it laughing, only for John to get more frustrated.

 

“Dave! This is serious! We have to kiss!”

 

His eyes meet with John’s and he sees tears – like, actual tears – welling up in his friend’s eyes. Oh right. He’s still drunk John. But then he also considered the courage John probably mustered up to talk about this. This is why he didn’t want to go to bed. And more importantly, he wonders how priceless it would be to tell Rose and Dirk that they actually _did_ kiss. Right. That’s the only reason _he_ would do this. Kiss John for the irony.

 

“Okay, okay,” Dave says, “You’re worried about this… gay tension—” He has to fucking stop himself from laughing again. Why is John so easy to get riled up? God, even Jade joined in. “I get it. But we need ground rules.”

 

“Just one kiss. No tongue.”

 

“No _teeth_ either, Egbert.”

 

“Obviously! And no wandering hands, _Dave_.”

 

“No shit.”

 

They glared at each other for a second before John took a deep breath and looked seriously at Dave. “This is to save our friendship from future implosion. We’re drunk and it’s funny, so we’ll joke about it tomorrow. No serious conversations about what it meant. It means nothing. Anything else?”

 

Dave, for the first time, is starting to doubt this. I mean yeah it’s funny. Really funny – Rose and Dirk really know how to push John’s buttons, and they’ve been teasing these two for forever about their friendship, trying to get something to spark that’s not there. But what if this kiss isn’t nothing? What if it changes the way Dave thinks of him? Is it even possible it’ll change what John thinks of him? And not to mention whether or not John would even do this sober… Still. There’s an undeniable determination in John’s eyes, and shit. When has fear or doubt ever stopped a Strider before?

 

That’s a stupid question. Scratch that.

 

“Sounds good to me.”

 

Nodding, John takes a second to think, looking at their surroundings. Dave doesn’t ask what he’s up to; just watches as John turns the TV off, leaving them in the red lights of Dave’s room again. Wow. This little dude means serious fucking business. Total focus. He has to take this seriously too.

 

John’s fierce gaze sets on his friend as he plants one hand on the side of Dave’s head. Dave wants to make a joke about John pretending to be some anime boy, but John shifts his whole body over Dave’s, and he suddenly goes silent. This is actually real.

 

John’s other hand reaches to cup Dave’s cheek, and all Dave can do is sit underneath him and look up at John’s determined expression leaning down to his face. John’s eyes close when he nears, and Dave instinctively closes his too. He tries to simmer the nervousness he feels by remembering the irony of this situation – Rose and Dirk will think it’s funny, and he can hang it over John’s head as teasing material for life. Right?

 

When John is close, Dave can tell he’s nervous, too. He feels his breath soft and warm against his lips and realizes from the arising desire in his chest that he wants this badly. John’s lips only graze his at first, as if unsure, but that determination from earlier kicks in again, and he’s suddenly kissing Dave with an intense but slow passion. Dave’s heart feels like it flies right out of his mouth into John’s, and he can’t help but press his lips against John’s just as passionately, wondering if this gives John any similar feeling.

 

A few long and good seconds pass before John pulls his lips just out of reach. Dave opens his eyes, but only sees John looking down, his long eyelashes fluttering. Although he’s sure that John’s not aware of it, his thumb is nervously caressing Dave’s cheek. Why won’t he pull away?

 

“Joh–”

 

Dave starts, only to be cut off by another kiss, more certain than the last. John’s lips move against Dave’s this time, and Dave returns the action, feeling confident enough to wrap his arms around John’s waist. That doesn’t count as wandering hands, right?

 

It gets heated, their lips moving desperately and frantically against one another’s. John’s lips part and his teeth bump Dave’s lips, but it only increases the friction of their kiss. Experimentally, Dave licks John’s bottom lip and their tongues start to clash with one another soon after. Dave figures – what the hell? Too many rules broken now. One of his hands wanders up John’s shirt to the small of his back. The hand previously beside Dave’s head gets tangled in the blonde’s hair, John’s body pressing against Dave’s. Still, the kiss, as heated as it is, remains a sane tempo; slow in some ways, but escalating faster than either could have predicted.

 

Hey. Maybe this really will be the key to fulfilling a totally normal non-homosexual friendship.

 

When John suddenly pulls back, looking at Dave for a long moment through a dizzy expression, his head suddenly drops against Dave’s chest. There’s a tinge of disappointment in Dave that it’s over. His arms, still around John, hold him in an embrace. Neither of them speak. After all, they weren’t supposed to talk about it. But Dave knew that rule would be agonizing for the both of them before he agreed to it, so of course, it feels unfair now.

 

“Hey, uh,” Dave says, clearing his throat, “Did you say just one kiss? Because…”

 

No response from the other boy. Fuck. Shit. God dammit. Is John going to be weird now? And he thought _he_ was gonna be the one who changed. Total hypocrite. Demands the kiss, says it’s nothing, but now he’s not gonna say or do anything?

 

A light snore takes him out of those panicked thoughts pretty quickly. John finally fell asleep, huh? Dave contemplates when he should get up and put John to bed, but he sits like this for a while in thought, questions soaring through his head.

 

The two of them sleeping like that looks like a suspicious sight to Dirk in the morning.

 

**Author's Note:**

> It's late and Idk when I'll write other chapters and how many there will be but uhhh you know. I have a lot of feelings. Not my best work for sureeee. Edit: I decided to leave this as a one-shot!


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